practical journalism

Practical JournalismHow to write News

What is news?

• Good journalists have a nose of news. They work hard to ‘sniff out’ original stories and find the facts of the events they are assigned to cover

• News is created

What is news?Good journalists strive to:

• Know their audience

• Understand what makes a strong news story

• Recognize the best angle

• Avoid repeating press releases verbatim

What is news?

• News is what is extraordinary, interesting and not known. [Gillian Hargreaves, BBC reporter]

• News is an account of a current idea, event, or problem that interests people. [Campbell & Wolseley]

• News is a timely report of facts or opinions that hold interest or importance, or both, for a considerable number of people. [Mitchell V. Charnley]

What is news?

• A report• Ideas, events, and problems• News is real• News is current• News interests people• News elements: timeliness, nearness, size, importance,

personal benefit, policy, journalistic treatment, and space allocation.

What is news?

• Hard news

• Soft news

What is news?Johan Galtung & Mari Ruge- factors important to news gatherers when deciding what’s news

• Frequency or time span• Meaning• Significance• Clarity • Closeness to home• Consonance or predictability• The unexpected or rare• Continuity• Composition• Concentration on elite nations and individuals• Person-centred• Negativity

What is news?Johan Galtung & Mari Ruge- factors important to news gatherers when deciding what’s news

• Others

• The law• Work routines• Financial control

News is relative

objectivity

News Sources

• News releases

• Diary stories

• News conferences

• Pseudo events

• Off-diary stories

Telling the story- grammar and style

Good writers make it easy for their readers by using:

- everyday words

- short, simply structured sentences

- active verbs

- anecdotes and quotes

Putting the message across…

• Think clearly – you have to know what the story is and then tell it in the most direct and succinct manner.

• Language must be appropriate for the audience

Good Writing: some rules

• Be clear about what you want to say• Say it with everyday words• Use simple sentences• Use short paragraphs• Use verbs in the active voice• Report details, draw a picture with words• Use a style that is natural to you• Keep adjectives to the minimum• Use strong quotes close to the beginning of the story• Avoid clichés as far as possible.• Don’t repeat words• Don’t bury your quotes• Don’t use ‘officialese’

Structuring the story

• Focus on the strongest angle• Write an intro that attracts the reader• Set out facts faithfully and lucidly• Structure the story to encourage reading• Use the most compelling quotes early on.

Effective Interviewing

Good interviewers are easy to trust and can put people at their ease. When conducting an interview they:- Have a clear idea of its purpose- Prepare carefully and consider lines of questioning- Interview rigorously but fairly- Remain well mannered at all times

Effective InterviewingHow important?

• Interviewing successfully is one of the great arts of reporting and a sure way to a good story.

• In broadcast news, the interview has become a form of packaged news itself.

• Its question and answer style has the advantage of giving a journalist an opportunity to explore issues in greater depth.

Effective InterviewingWhat exactly is an interview?

• It is a conversation with a source

• It isn't just an informal chat

• The source has an important information, so an interview is meant to get it, by getting the source to tell you

Effective InterviewingTypes of Interviewing

• The informational interview

• The expositional interview

• The interpretative interview

How to prepare for an interview?

• First, check the library clippings for stories relevant to the interview

• Think about what you want from the interview• Think of lines of questioning which may elicit

memorable quotes or anecdotes or other evidences from the source

• You may prepare a list of questions beforehand but you don’t have to follow it slavishly

• If the subject is a sensitive issue prepare beforehand for the most probable attitude from your source

The interview

• First impressions• Simple is not stupid• Use lots of open questions to draw out the information• The less threatening you can be the better even if the source

seems unwillingly or unruly• Don’t open with challenging or sensitive questions• Don’t be afraid to ask the difficult or tough questions when the

time comes• Strive to get good quotes. This brings the human element and

animate a story• Silence can be golden

Covering news conferences

Make sure to note:- Why the news conference was called- The main points being made by the speaker/speakers- The consequences of the news conference- The names and job titles of the speakers- The best quotes (strict accuracy is essential here)- Any good points to come out of the follow-up asked by

reporters.

Door stepping

• Is one of the hardest part of your job• It involves going uninvited to someone’s house or

waiting outside a restaurant, cinema, or court in the hope of getting a few comments from the source

• Public figures are used to this but ordinary people who have been caught in a news story should be handled carefully.

others

• Telephone interviews

• E-mail or submitted question interviews

Ethical issues

• ‘off-record’• keep whatever promise made to the source• Protect and minimize harm to the source

Finding the news

Good journalists know how to dig out information. They don’t wait to be given stories, they go looking for them. They- Have excellent contacts- Will not accept information in press releases, leaks or tip-

offs at face value, but will always seek to verify it- Know where to find and how to use reference books,

records and reports- Can interpret and analyze figures

Reporting as “story”

• There’s no such thing as a story. Stories don’t exist they happen.

• A story is an event, not an object. It exists in time and space. It’s a performance by the giver and an experience for those receiving it.

• Tell journalistic stories much like other stories.

Reporting as “story”

• Every real story has a setting, a place where it happens and a combination of circumstances that provides its context.

• Every real story has one or more characters, with some being major players and some playing bit parts.

• Every real story has some sort of complication that occurs, triggering the chain of events that makes the story more than just simple description.

Reporting as “story”

• Every real story puts its character through a process of responding to this complication as they try to resolve the problem or conflict, take advantage of the opportunity or achieve their goal.

• Every real story brings this process to a resolution, happy or otherwise.

Reporting as “story”

• And every real story includes some sort of closure that looks into the future or provides meaning.

• The reporter’s shopping list:- Setting – where and when- Characters - who- Complication – what and why- Process of responding/resolving – what (happened)- Resolution - How- Closure – so what?

Story as Trap

• There’s a difference between story and myth• Report only as much of the story as you’ve really

gathered• The story you are telling is often the story of being told

things by other people

Treat any story, be it for print or broadcast, as a story to be told, and read your draft out loud to test how well it works.

Attribute meticulously. Remember, your story is often about people telling stories of their own. Don’t fall into retelling those stories as though they were facts.

Read broadly with a critical eye for how the story is being told.

Listen with ear that’s hungry to study how people instinctively tell their stories.

Tell stories yourself, and tell them as real stories, no matter to whom, no matter why, no matter about what.

references

• Harper, C. and The Indiana group.(1998). Journalism 2001. Madison: CourseWise Publishing Inc. (www.coursewise.com)

• Campbell, R.L. and Wolseley, R.E. (1961). How to report and write the news. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

• Dennis, E.E. and Ismach, H.A. (1981). Reporting Processes and Practices: Newswriting for Today’s readers. California: Wadsworth Pub. Co.

• Sissons, H. (2006). Practical Journalism: How to write News. London: Sage Publications.

Jimi KayodeJournalism DepartmentAdebola Adegunwa School of Communication,Lagos State University,Lagos, Nigeria.